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Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Belated Happy CNY! CES 2012…BUST! And other late posts

It's not too late to wish everyone a happy Chinese New Year is it? I still have tikoy in my fridge, so the holiday is officially not over. Let me just take this opportunity to make this much-delayed post.

I'm really looking forward to this year. For starters, we're having a baby this May. Of course, I also think it's going to be a great year for tech. I will list the reasons later, as well as all the things you should watch out for. But first allow me to talk about CES 2012, which happened early last month.

CES 2012…BUST!

Another late thing to blog about...or did I forget on purpose? Hmmm...

The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is a showcase of tech and gadgets. It's the biggest nerd party where all the biggest and smartest companies show off all their shiny new stuff. I've followed it avidly for years. The CES of yesteryear gave us things like High Definition TV, new game consoles, 3D TV, robot dogs, and camera phones (remember those?) This year, we got just more of the same.

That's the reason why I didn't write about CES. The only posts I made that were born in CES were about mirrorless cameras: the Fuji X-Pro1 and Canon G1X. And those are niche products at best.

There was still a lot of great tech on display. There was a glasses-free 3D TV. There were some interesting phones. There were a gajillion Ultrabooks (Intel's marketing name for laptops that are like MacBook Airs). There were a ton tablets and Android phones. But isn't all this stuff, well, just more of the same stuff that we had last year? Or stuff that we already have?

There was also some interesting news. Blackberry actually updated their PlayBook with an awesome-looking OS. And Microsoft made their last appearance at CES. That says it all doesn't it? It's the end of an era.

Meanwhile, Apple, snobs that they are, usually have an announcement around the same time as CES. This year they gave us…education. Zzzzz...

6 REASONS WHY 2012 WILL ROCK

I still believe 2012 will be an awesome year for tech. Here's why:

1. PLAYSTATION VITA

It's the device that the PSP was always meant to be: a handheld gaming console with two thumbsticks (hello first person shooters!). The Vita also has a touchscreen as well as a touch sensitive pad on the back, AND it has the graphical power of a PS3 -- if the PS3 had a tiny screen, that is. Any way you look at it, this is a real winner.

You can get a Vita right now if you look hard enough, but later this month, it will be released in the US. It won't make much of a difference -- the PS Vita is region free for games -- but it will mean that supply will be better and prices will also calm down.

2. VIDEO GAMES

Mass Effect 3, Diablo III, Twisted Metal, Bioshock Infinite, Starcraft II: Heart of the Swarm, The Last Guardian, The Last Of Us, Final Fantasy XIII-2, Street Fighter X Tekken… These are just the games that we know about. Oh, and let's not forget all those Vita games. Clear your schedules, gamers!

3. IPAD 3 and IPHONE 5

Some people will argue this, but I've always thought of iPads and iPhones as being the same thing, so I'm putting them together in the same number. Apple is due to update the iPad soon and after that, the iPhone will surely follow. Question is, what do they have up their sleeve? Rumors say a big screen, but nobody knows!

4. CLOUD SERVICES

Okay, we've got the fancy laptops, mobile phones, and tablets. We've got the 3G and 4G plans. Now all we need are innovative cloud services. And they're coming.

Fuji, Sony, Panasonic, Canon, and Nikon may have all announced their new mirrorless cameras, but there's more coming. Olympus is announcing their OM-inspired camera in less than two weeks. Leica is said to be releasing a new camera this year too. I think Fuji got it right with their X-pensive X-Pro1. It looks gangbusters. Olympus might change everything with their OM-D, but it all depends on just how good their new sensor is. I can't wait to find out! Bring it, 2012.

3 comments:

There were some pretty cool gadgets at CES. I agree that most of them were the same as any year, but one product that interested me was the Hopper through DISH. Some co-workers and I at DISH got a chance to play with it at work the other day and I loved it! I really liked how I was able to watch a recording in one room and continue that recording in any of the other rooms that had the Joey. With this receiver in my home, I would also be able to eliminate and DVR conflicts I may have. This was the best product I thought was at CES this year.